Arsenal 1-0 West Brom: match report

Arsenal hosted West Bromwich Albion today at the Emirates stadium and with both teams secure in their places in the table the match felt more like a slumber party than a football match.

It took 16 minutes but Arsenal were the first to wake from their sleep when Cazorla’s corner found Giroud’s head and the ball found Mulumbu’s leg before finding the net. It was a dream start and Arsenal’s 8th goal from a set play this season. Liverpool have 23 goals from set plays and Man City have 19. That’s not counting penalties. Counting penalties Arsenal have 11 goals from set plays, Liverpool 33, and Man City 25. I say that for no other reason but to make you angry and because I am 7amkickoff, this is what I do.

Up 1-0 and slumbering through the game, West Brom nearly woke Arsenal in the 32nd minute when Dorrans the Explorer took a wicked shot from outside the box. The ball dipped right in front of Szczesny and he spilled the ball right to the onrushing Berahino. Berahino’s shot found row z and he was spared blushes when the sideline official brought fourth the flag.

The game stirred for a minute after West Brom forced another turnover in Arsenal’s final third, this time on Özil, and Bearahino had a curling effort go straight to the same fans he just shot into. Maybe he hates those people? Maybe it’s a message? Dreams are often hard to interpret.

Arsenal responded with a quick counter. Koscielny tackled the ball away, Flamini cleaned up the garbage and played forward to Özil who spotted Podolski steaming in to the West Brom box, a neat little pass put the German in and his drag-back found Cazorla at the top of the box for a shot low and in the corner which was well saved.

From there, the game slipped back into a dream. Flamini and Sessegnon had a little talk after Sessegnon tackled his ankle instead of the ball. Flamini was angry but quickly realized a stupid foul would mean he missed the FA Cup final. So, I think he asked Sessegnon nicely not to tackle his ankles or he will have to blind him.

Both teams peeked at the clock, 33 minutes gone, and decided to slap the snooze button.

The second half started the same as the first. West Brom stirred a bit in their pyjamas, scratched their nether regions and then rolled over. Arsenal yawned and realized they should probably get up and brush their teeth.

Did I just see Özil sprinting back to cover on defense? His touch has been dreamy all day but covering on defense too?

Arteta gives way to Kallstrom amid great applause from the Arsenal crowd.

We have been informed that Loic Remy is watching in the stands, Mandzukic is rumored to be watching at home on TV, Draxler is listening to the game on the radio, and Diego Costa is going to read about the game in tomorrow’s paper.

Oh man, Özil just did this neat little dribble down the touch line. What was that? And a slide tackle? What is going on? I thought Arsenal were supposed to be asleep. Is it me? I did get up late.

Arsenal bring on Rosicky for Cazorla. More applause.

Özil is easily the man of the match here. He has a nice little shot, tried to be cute and chips it just wide. He plays in a cross for Giroud to head just wide. Podolski finds him with a through ball and he crosses to Olsson who passes to Podolski. Poldi hits the crossbar. Özil is everywhere. Özil is everything.

67 COMMENTS

Good game! Could have been better but we got the winning goal and kept a clean sheet and that’s what is important. Giroud MOTM for me. Szczesny gets a well deserved golden glove now at the end of the season, it’s tied with Cech at the moment, but a clean sheet next game should see him being the only winner!

P.S. Loved the way they cheered Arteta when he was coming off, good to see that people still appreciate the work he does!

Also Loic Remy was in the executive box at the Emirates stadium watching Arsenal today, he could be just watching the game, but I guess it means we’re signing him. Transfer window hasn’t opened yet, so it seems like Arsene is in the mood for getting done with transfers early on which is great.

Wenger categorically said after the match “I did not invite him.” As far as I know Wenger is in charge of all transfers at AFC, but then again it’s not the first time he’s said “I’m not interested” in a player before signing him. Could be useful backup, so as long as he isn’t more than about £8M he would be a good signing.

That’s nothing to be excited about, I personally find it quite depressing that we look to buy a £15m striker which scored 14 goals in the league during the 26 games he played.. I am gonna be honest, I can’t really see how this would improve our chances for the next season.

Nah, knowing it may or may not be Sagna’s last home game, it’s a nice gesture to play him. Let’s hope he doesn’t go to another English club, and that even if he does, he gets a good reception from us no matter what (unless it is Chelsea or Spurs)

Yep, Wenger should definitely have played Jenkinson instead of Sagna, on his last ever game at the Emirates. For sure. I mean, who would want to see one of the most legendary right backs we’ve ever had, absolute warrior and loyal club man, on his last game at home for the club. Pffft, seriously, what was Wenger thinking.

Where was the impassioned diatribe against man marking? Arsenal, one of the poorer clubs in the league in scoring from set pieces, score on a set piece and WBA was MAN MARKING. I hate man marking, it’s clearly inferior, and WBA should’ve been zonal.

Seriously though, our poor scoring from set pieces has bothered me all season. We also have not scored directly on a shot from a free kick all season. With as many highly technical, skilled players we have we ought to have a few of those.

Negredo, Ramsey and Sterling have 9 league goals each, but Ramsey has done it in the least time. Ramsey is scoring faster than Negredo! Ramsey is also joint fourth for assists and joint eleventh for goals.

Giroud is joint fifth for assists and fifth for goals.

David Silva and Ozil both have nine assists, but Ozil has played fewer minutes. Both have a passing accuracy of 88%, but Silva’s average pass length is 14m, Ozil’s is 16m.

@ Petits Handbag, I’m guessing you meant “shouldn’t”
I felt the same way after watching Bergkamps goal against Newcastle.
That was the moment I realised I could never be good enough to play professional football

Job done in an unspectacular manner. Nonetheless, 3 more points. Keep the momentum going. Winning is a habit. 2 primary targets achieved. St Totteringham’s day & 4th place trophy. Now the 3rd one left. Clinch the FA Cup and go on an open bus parade. Long time since that happened. COYG!!

7amkickoff should note we are ten points clear of Spuds this season. That should be progress too and they are again out of CL despite 100m and a slew of ‘progressive’ managers.:)

4ths spot trophy and the FA cup will be better than 3rd spot (or indeed 2nd) and nothing.

BBC kept airing tweets with people complaining about our boring performance winning by a goal when Chelsea came up with a blank for all their efforts against relegation fodder Norwich (Even United beat them)

I like Rozitsky but not sure what the merit of playing him (or indeed keeping him on) is to us.

He is 33 and won’t get less injury prone with age.

Much prefer we bring in someone like Konoplyanka as a replacement, someone who has pace and trickery to beat a man or two out left and ambidexterous enough to cover across midfield (switch with Santi and Ozil in a game)

That said, he is priced likely 15-18m and may be out of reach particularly with our main focus on the 3 possible replacements at RB, CB and GK plus the striker.

“I’ll quit if we don’t win trophies, you won’t have to sack me.” Jose Mourinho, 17 Aug 2013.
“I think boring is a team that plays at home and cannot score a goal.” Same cunt, 25 Dec 2013.

The man’s a bloody hypocrite I would not expect him to backtrack on these comments let alone honor them. Absolute cunt of a manager, fits in perfectly well with Terry, Cole et al. The two most decent players there are Mata and Hazard, one’s already gone and the other looks set to follow suit (I hope we bid for him), that then makes my life easier in hating Chelsea. Chelsea’s “attempt” at beautiful football; one step forward, then they hire Mourinho. Have a fucking laugh!

The sky interview that they did with Wenger and Geoff Streeves before the game I found very interesting. The full version is on youtube if anyone wants to watch it but what stuck out for me was Arsene’s intense ambition and desire to get the club back to winning ways and I am 100% certain that he is the right manager to take us forward and hope he stays for many many years. COYG!!!!